up there: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." Let us see bow Chiist's eufferin 6s bear on the conduct of his persecuted people. I. THl!l SUBSTITUTIONARY SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. "Christ bath once suffered for sine, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." 1. A plain statemem of the substitutionary character of our Lord's sacrifice. How does Christ save? By substitution, In that word is the explanation of our Lord's sacrifice and of his suf- ferings; they were endured by him as our Substitute, in our stead. 'l'hcy were undoubtedly the expression of his perfect consecration to the Father, the great proof of his obedience; they were also the great revelation of God's lovCl aml mercy to the sinful, of his yearning for the restoration of the lost; but they were this, without which they would have b.len in every other respect unavailing, they were the endurance in the stead of the sinner, of that which alone makes hi8 righteous forgive- ness possible. But it is said that Jesus was simply revealing what God was willing to bear for man's redemption, and that it is by this revelation of love he saves us. That is not whc;t Scripture says. "God made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;" "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree [or, 'to the tree,' and left them there]." But, says another, "Christ saves by his holy example, leading us to holiness, and not by his cruel sufferings. So far from that, the apostles, in their teaching, gave weight to the death of Christ as the world's hope. "In him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins," "vVe are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ; " "Without shed<liog of blood there is no remission." Others say that this was a mere Jewish mode of expres- sion; the apostles were only meeting Jewish prejudice when they spoke thus. But we find they use the same words in writing to the Gentiles-to the Churches at Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, elc. It is also said that there is ac element of injustice in the idea of substitution, Is it not unjust to inflict the punishment incurred by one on another who is innocent? But that is not the case here. Jesus was God-this was God him- self making the atonement necessary for our forgiveness by shedding his own blood. 2, The necessity for such a sacrifice is implied in its design. What was its design? "To bring to God," says the text. But there are two great obstacles to our coming back to God-one on his part, and one on ours. How can he receivE. us sinners? How can we dare to come? How can God receive us? "Cannot I," says a father," forgive my child just because I will?" No, you cannot, if, like the great Father, you have been compelled to declare what the penalty of transgression must be, That is God's posi- tion. He can only forgive if he forgives righteously. How shall he do that? The substitution of Christ is the answer. Apart from that: How could we dare to go to him 1 Some say Christ saves by revealing God's love, by alluring us to follow his example of self-sacrifice. If that is all the gospel you have for me, I am condemned the more; for I am conscious of the unutterable distance between what Jesus was and what I am. I dare not go to Gcd, and I must pass into the unseen hopeless. But when we follow the meaning of these words, "Christ bath once suffered for sin~, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God," we can go back to God then, and are welcomed for Christ's sake. II. TnE RESDl,T OF THIS TO HIMSELF. 1. Quickened spiritual power. " Being put to death in the fi<Jsh, but quickened by the Spirit." It should read," in the spirit," not "by the Spirit." There is no reference here to the work of God the Spirit, to \I horn else- where the resurrection of Christ is attributed; it is here simply a contrast between Christ's flesh and his spirit, His spirit did not die; it was raised by the death of the flesh into new energy, and he became able to do what before was impossible. Re had often thought of this : "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." 2. Influence on spirits in prison. This subject we will leave for the present. 3. .Ascension to heavenly authoi·ity. " Who is gone into heaven," etc. ·what see we now? "I looked, and behold in the midst of the throne, a Lamb as it had been slain." Redemption enthroned. All things required to glorify redemption. Devils restrained by the Redeemer's will; angels his swift-winged messengers; providences, his servants ; history, the unfolding of his purpose; the kingdoms of this world become his king- dom; and he ever living to secure this glorious consummation. But this had been impossible apart from the ntonerncr.t; it was only through the cross that ,Tcsus changed the throne of heaven froI11 that of nlmightiuess and mercy to that of redemption, 158 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PE'l'ER. [on. m, l-22.
III. THE BEARING OF THIS ON PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS. 1. It sets forth (Jlwisfa claim on our suife1·ing for hiin. 'l'here surely is nothing like a remembrance of his cro_ss to. constmm us to take up ours. 2. _It reminds the persecuted of tho spfritual quickening that may come through the s~tfenng. For what was true of Jesus is to be as !rue of us: "Pnt to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit." '£he storm ,,·h1ch shakes us to the c~ntre sends our roots down deeper, mooring us the faster to the Rock of Ages. Suffenng has a rare tendency to send us down to the foundation of things, a rare tendency to send us home to the Life of all, and closer contact with bm means more life from him. 3. This points to the glorious end of the suffering of the saints. First the cross, then the crown. Jesus once suffered, then heaven and the right hand of God, and "angels and authorities and p0wers subject unto him."-0. N.